"Elves, hold your positions!" The general shouted yet only seconds later, "Regroup! Regroup!"
Soldiers were generally devoid of emotions or questions. An ideal soldier would do as told. Yet when soldiers suspected or even saw fear or confusion on the faces of their leaders, they naturally hoarded those emotions and felt the same.
The elfish army was no different.
Panic and confusion spread like wildfire; and in a somewhat unnatural way. Within minutes, the vastly superior army was in disarray. Some even abandoned their positions and just ran for their lives.
"What are you doing!? REGROUP!" The general's screams fell on deaf ears.
Some soldiers, and some commanders tried to regroup but it just wasn't working. To make matters worse, the enemies had multiplied and massive pillars of ice kept manifesting, freezing everyone and creating even more panic.
"We must fall back! My lady!"
The general clicked her tongue. It wasn't her nature to fall back. Yet- "Fall back! FALL BACK!" She made a split decision. She didn't have time to consider all options.
It wasn't an orderly-coordinated retreat. Rather, a mass panic desertion.
Everyone ran, they just ran for their lives. No one wanted to die. No one wanted to be frozen. They were soldiers, they were supposed to be devoid of emotions. But in practice, no one was; not even these elven elites. Yet some soldiers still fell behind. Some fell on their knees… all given up.
After running back into the borders, the army set up a temporary camp and the general groaned, seeing the stack of papers that just piled up on her table. Resignation letters.
Not just a defeat but such a big one… who was that bitch?
"Sanders?" She called out.
A soldier entered her tent. "Yes, my lady?"
"Find out the identity of the woman who was present at summit moments ago."
"The one who called-"
"There was only one woman there, Sanders; do not make me repeat myself!"
"Yes Ma'am."
He ran out immediately.
Commotion all around; soldiers talked. The majority of them were still in panic. This wasn't normal and nor should have happened. At least not to this level.
And that level of magic… She screamed and slammed her fist down on the table, nearly breaking it; a faint clicking sound left her mouth as she slowly messaged her hand. Maybe hitting the table so hard wasn't such a good idea?
Sometime later she went out and personally spoke to hundreds of commanders and gave them instructions on what was going to happen next.
This was supposed to be a secret mission and they should have taken over the Viscounty with ease, considering their numbers. The other local lords shouldn't have seen this coming either. Yet, they were ready. And they had one of the best Elven mages as their ally.
Clearly, someone had betrayed Eflrieda and leaked information. She considered the possibility of it just being Drifus Magnus, the arc mage, but that probably wasn't the case as the arc mage was captured months ago before these plans were set in motion.
So, who?
She didn't know. And she couldn't risk being here any longer when it was so uncertain what was going to happen. What if the whole of Droban was united and they just retaliated at full force under a union? Would her forces be a match for them in the current state? Absolutely not.
She considered everything and retreating was the best option. It was shameful but as long as she got to live to fight another day, it was all good.
"We leave at dawn."
It was too late at night and everyone was tired. They still had to stay vigilant but she knew the defending army wouldn't risk coming out here, at least not yet. They would probably launch an all-out offensive in the morning but she planned on leaving before that.
And although she hardly ever prayed to god, today she did.
She prayed that the defending army wouldn't come attack her army tonight.
Later that night, while she was barely managing to stay awake, a soldier entered her hut in a hurry and nearly gave the general a panic of her own. "What?" she said.
"You asked me to inspect the woman?"
"Ri-right. What do you have on her."
"Nothing. It's almost as though she never even existed. No one, not even the ghosts had seen her before today. She just appeared out of nowhere and then-"
"I see," she said. She'd heard of people like that before. People with extraordinary talents being born out of thin air. No, perhaps that wasn't an apt term. After all, she knew, these people weren't born in this one. They were more akin to travelers. Otherworlders.
The next morning, General Zodery led her army out of the border lands and moved into Zabruza's frontier city of Dalish. They were going to take a longer break here and let the army recuperate. Meanwhile, she had the taxing duty of informing the commander in chief of her pathetic defeat and retreat. Best case she would be stripped of her title and let go. Worst case… she'd lose her head. No, that wasn't the worst case. She once saw the fate of a female warrior who'd sold information to the enemy. They drugged her, skinned her alive and chopped off most of her limbs and organs and even nerves, and then just kept her alive in a pool of drugs for months by feeding her through tubes. She had her mouth sealed, so she couldn't even scream; no eyes, no ears… just pain. Trapped her in her filth and blood, she died a miserable death… that was going to be the worst.
And she, again prayed… that it never comes to that. Today, Zodery firmly believed in the gods, whichever one happened to exist.
[A/N]
Hi, it's Yet, your perpetually burnt out author.
How you're liking the story so far? Yes, you, my non-existent reader!
XD, yeah, I know I don't have any readers right now, so no one is reading this chapter or this stuff for that matter. Hopefully that'll change in the future. Otherwise, me being burnt out would be utterly meaningless huh?
Sigh...
Anyway, thank you for reading. Have a nice day!